King of Scandinavia in one of the universes through with Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson passed. His capitol was Stockholm. Margrethe was distressed to
learn that Denmark was part of Sweden.

Eden,
Kansas, community church, to which Alex
Hergensheimer's family belonged. It apparently was nondenominational.

Churches United for Decency

Organization of which Alex
Hergensheimer was executive secretary, deputy director, and fundraiser. It
lobbied for a number of political issues, including making abortion a capital
crime and tobacco a prescription drug, prohibiting contraception, attacking
the tax-free status of non-Christian private schools, and impeding
astronomical research.

Manager in the restaurant in Nogales,
Arizona, where Alex
Hergensheimer got work as a dishwasher. He had to explain the basics of
taxes, Social Security and other payroll deductions to Alex.

Sam Crumpacker

Lawyer whom Alex
Hergensheimer visited when he and Margrethe
Gunderson were returned to Alec
Graham's world. He was obviously involved in some shady deal with the $1
million that Alex had found in Graham's lockbox aboard the Konge
Knut. In reality he was a manifestation of Loki, who
was behind the universe shifts.

[mentioned in passing] Sixth-century monk who, according to
Alex
Hergensheimer, made an arithmetic error in calculating the time since
Jesus' birth. The result of his error is that the likely year of Jesus' birth
is, according to the modern calendar, 5 B.C.

El Distrito Real

[mentioned in passing] seat of government in the Kingdom of
Mexico. [Spanish, "royal district"]

Danish king of Scandinavia, with a capital in Kobenhavn in one of the
worlds Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson passed through. He was born Prince Frederik. Margrethe was
delighted to learn that Denmark controlled the rest of Scandinavia.

Exchange and Readjustments

Office in Heaven to which Alex
Hergensheimer was referred to change his berthing assignment.

"Good Samaritan" who offered Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson a ride when they were stranded and naked in Texas. He invited
them into his house for as long as they could stay. Actually an aspect of Lucifer,
he also helped Alex in his search for Margrethe after the Rapture, eventually
effecting their reunion. When the couple settled in Eden,
Kansas, they "remembered" the Farnsworths as their best friends whom they'd
met after the Mazatlán
earthquake.

Farnsworth's Folly

Jerry Farnsworth's ranch.

Katherine (Kate) Farnsworth

Jerry's wife, who offered gracious hospitality to Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson when they were stranded in Texas. While searching for Margrethe
after the Rapture, Alex learned she was Rahab, the harlot who aided Joshua's
before his conquest of Jericho. Jerry called her "Duchess".

Sybil Farnsworth

Teenaged daughter of Jerry and Kate, a recent convert to the Old Religion
(witchcraft). She was actually an afrit named Egret, who also the was desk
clerk when Alex
Hergensheimer checked into Hell's Sans
Souci Sheraton hotel.

Co-op organized by and for the newly arrived souls in heaven after the
Rapture, established near the Asher
Gate.

Jeremy Forsyth

SS Konge
Knut passenger who paid off his bet to Alex
Hergensheimer after Alec
Graham's successful firewalk. He was named Gerald Fortescue in Alex's
original world. (Also known as "The Well-Travelled Man".)

[mentioned in passing] Living unit to which Alex
Hergensheimer was assigned in Heaven; apparently bachelor quarters.

Glaroon

World that Koshchei
offered to Lucifer
to govern; Lucifer seemed reluctant to accept it.

Mrs. Ephraim Glutz

Hypothetical passenger mentioned as winning the "mileage pool" by Alex
Hergensheimer in his description of a typical item in a ship's daily
newspaper.

Alec Graham.

Alex
Hergensheimer took over his identity after Alex found himself in a new
universe following his firewalk. He used the name through most of his
subsequent ordeal, though he thought Hergensheimer had a much nobler sound.
The original Alec Graham was apparently involved in a shady deal involving one
million dollars that Alex found in "his" lockbox. Graham was actually a
manifestation of Loki, who
set up the situation into which Alex would be thrown.

Ruler of Russia in Alec
Graham's world, a constitutional monarch who no longer claimed suzerain
over other Slavic states. In Alex
Hergensheimer's world there was a Russian Emperor who is absolute monarch
of vast territories.

gumpersaggle

Alex
Hergensheimer's proposed name for the flying machine (airplane) that he
and Margrethe
Gunderson saw after being marooned by the iceberg collision. Neither he
nor Margrethe had ever seen one before, and they weren't certain what it was.

Margrethe Svensdatter Gunderson

Stewardess on the SS Konge
Knut who became Alec
Graham's mistress, then Alex
Hergensheimer's wife. A schoolteacher on one-year leave, she had studied
English language and history and knew four other languages. When Alex
Hergensheimer "became" Alec Graham, he fell in love with her, and she
accompanied him through his ordeal of passing through strange universes. She
was "born again" in the last minutes before the Rapture, but was not taken
into Heaven. Their separation was the result of Loki's
conniving with Yahweh to
test Alex's faith, so as recompense she and Alex were given a life together
with all their wishes granted, and the memory of their ordeal erased.

One of the passengers who paid off a bet to Alec
Graham after his firewalk.

Abigail Hergensheimer

Alex
Hergensheimer's wife in his home universe. She was upright to an extreme,
and apparently not a pleasant life companion. She made it into Heaven during
the Rapture but made such a nuisance of herself complaining about others'
behavior that St. Peter had her thrown out of his office.

Alexander Hergensheimer

Ordained clergyman and officer of Churches
United for Decency, he was chosen the victim in a bet between Yahweh
and Loki
to test the faith of Yahweh's most devoted follower. While a passenger on the
MV Konge
Knut, he accepted a bet to try a firewalk after witnessing a
demonstration, and during the walk was transported to a different universe
where he was known as Alec
Graham. From there, with Margrethe
Gunderson he was shuttled from universe to universe, either staying just
long enough to build up hope that they were finished with the ordeal, or
shifted with disconcerting rapidity and frequency. He came to think of
Margrethe as his wife, but although she accepted Jesus moments before the
Rapture they were separated when he was taken bodily into Heaven. Deciding
that eternity without her would be unbearable, he chose to go to Hell to
search for her. He gained Lucifer's
aid in revealing Yahweh's contrivances and winning a peaceful existence for
himself and Margrethe with all memory of their experiences erased and all
their desires fulfilled.

hollow grams

Alex
Hergensheimer's understanding of "holograms", used to decorate the rooms
in Jerry
Farnsworth's house, including changing the function of room (for example,
from parlor to dining room).

By inference, Sybil
Farnsworth got into trouble once for making an illegal tape of their
music.

John Edward II (no last name)

In the United States where Alex
Hergensheimer ended up after the Mazatlán
earthquake, he was His Most Christian Majesty, Hereditary President of the
United States and Canada, Duke of Hyannisport, Comte de Quebec, Defender of
the Faith, Protector of the Poor, and Marshal in Chief of the Peace Force.
[Inferring from Hyannisport, he could be John Kennedy or a descendant.]

The SS Konge
Knut's daily newspaper; Alex
Hergensheimer was grateful that Alec
Graham had saved all of them from the first day of the voyage, since they
helped Alex acquaint himself with the ship's routine and the other passengers.

Bert Kinsey

Alex
Hergensheimer's boyhood "outlaw chum" who shared his taste for science
fiction. He saved Alex from the fiery pit when he was hurled into hell, but
was changed into a pink monkey when he expressed skepticism about Alex's
sainthood.

Kirk (no first name)

Alex
Hergensheimer's scoutmaster. He was accused of profane language by his
wife and sentenced to one day in the stocks. After the experience, he left
town and was never seen again.

Before his firewalk Alex
Hergensheimer was travelling aboard the MV (motor vehicle) Konge Knut, but
afterwards he found it transformed to the SS (steam ship) Konge Knut. The
night that he convinced Margrethe
Gunderson of what seemed to have happened to him, the ship was struck by
an iceberg, and disappeared after Alex and Margrethe were washed through a
hole in the hull.

The "deity" one level above Lucifer
and Yahweh,
who seldom took an interest in affairs below that level. At Lucifer's
intercession, he mediated the dispute over Yahweh's treatment of Alex
Hergensheimer, manifesting to Alex as the image of the veterinarian he
knew during childhood. Lucifer had suggested that Alex address him, if at all,
as "Mr. Chairman".

Margrethe
Gunderson described him as the god not of mischief but of evil, and
suspected him of being responsible for her and Alex
Hergensheimer's ordeals. They eventually found out that he was causing the
worldshifts as part of a bet he'd made with Yahweh to
test the resolve of Yahweh's most faithful follower. Loki had manifested as Alec
Graham to set up the situation into which Alex was cast, and was also Sam
Crumpacker. He claimed to have won the bet, and also complained that
Yahweh welshed on the payment.

Lonesome Cowboy Steak House

Restaurant that turned into Vivian's Grill, in another shift to a new
world, before Alex
Hergensheimer could collect his wages for washing dishes.

Port city to which Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson were taken by the Mexican Coast Guard airship that rescued them
from midocean after the Konge
Knut struck an iceberg. Mazatlán was the ship's original destination, but
the city to which they were taken was obviously in a different world. They
were indentured there to pay the expenses of their rescue.

H. G. Wells novel about the fourth dimension and parallel universes. Alex
Hergensheimer had read the first installment in a magazine, but after the
Protect-Our-Youth legislation was passed, later installments were never
published.

[mentioned in passing] Former owners of the soda shop that
Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson bought in Eden,
Kansas. (Considering the name — Asmodeus — probably a minion of Lucifer,
helping to create the utopia for Alex and Margrethe.)

City to which Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson were taken by refugee train after the Mazatlán
earthquake, in a different universe than the Mazatlán in which they were
indentured. They worked there for several weeks, but just as they were
becoming solvent they were shifted to a new universe.

[mentioned in passing] Organization that arranged a
firewalking demonstration for the passengers of the Konge
Knut. The representative allowed Alex
Hergensheimer to try, but "took no responsibility" for the results.

It was ruled by a tsar in Alex
Hergensheimer's homeworld. In Alec
Graham's world, it was ruled by the Grand Duke of Muscovy, a
constitutional monarch who no longer claimed suzerain over other Slavic
states.

Teamster who gave Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson a lift towards Kansas, bought them steak dinners, and gave Alex
money. Alex found him in Heaven after the Rapture; he credited Alex with
converting him.

The wife of Jaime Valera Guzmán. Although he technically owned the
restaurant (having married the previous owner's daughter), she controlled the
management. She tried to cheat Margrethe
Gunderson out of her tips, snooped in the room Margrethe shared with Alex
Hergensheimer, and generally treated Alex and Margrethe as slaves rather
than indentured employees.

His books were removed from the public library after science fiction was
outlawed in Alex
Hergensheimer's homeworld. One of Alex's English professors, bluntly
opposed to the censorship, had said that Wells invented every basic fantastic
theme.

Town in which Alex
Hergensheimer and Margrethe
Gunderson found themselves during their travels through the universes. A
kind couple bought them lunch there, and Margrethe bought traveling clothes at
a second-hand store.

The deity that subjected Alex
Hergensheimer to the ordeal of shifting among worlds,losing all he
possessed each time. Yahweh had made a bet with Loki that
the ordeal would not cause Alex, his most zealous believer, to lose his faith.
[English transliteration of the Hebrew name for God.]

The Heinlein
Society was founded by Virginia Heinlein on behalf of her husband, science
fiction author Robert Anson Heinlein, to "pay forward" the legacy of Robert A. Heinlein to future generations of "Heinlein's Children."